6 - YOUR LIFE ACADEMY



Career Planning Tool Kit

Here you’ll find easy-to-use tools that can assist you through the various stages of your

career planning.

|Career plan |

|1. Career planning chart |

|Life values |

|2. Examining life values |

|3. My ideal life |

|4. Career/life planning timeline |

|General requirements of a job |

|5. Where am I right now? |

|6. Motivational abilities pattern |

|7. Career questions |

|Skills, knowledge and personal attributes |

|8. My best qualities and skills |

|9. What are my job requirements? |

|10. What are my short and long term goals? |

|Barriers to career planning |

|11. Examining the barriers using force field analysis |

Career Planning Chart

| |Barriers to my plans include: |

|Name: |1. |

| |2. |

|Date: |3. |

| |4. |

|Review date: |5. |

| |To overcome them I need to: |

|My LIFE VALUES are: |1. |

|1. |2. |

|2. |3. |

|3. |4. |

|4. |5. |

|5. |Factors that will help me include: |

|I am MOTIVATED by: |1. |

| |2. |

|Using the following ABILITIES: |3. |

| |4. |

|Using the following SUBJECT AREAS: |5. |

| |To use them I need to: |

| |1. |

|The following CIRCUMSTANCES: |2. |

| |3. |

|By the following RELATIONSHIPS: |4. |

| |5. |

|To achieve the following RESULTS: |In FIVE YEARS TIME I would like to be: |

| | |

|My ESSENTIAL REQUIREMENTS of a job are: | |

| |TO GET THERE I NEED TO: |

|My PREFERRED REQUIREMENTS of a job are: | |

| | |

|My PERSONAL QUALITIES include: |In TWO YEARS TIME I would like to be: |

| | |

|My KNOWLEDGE & SKILLS include: | |

| |TO GET THERE I NEED TO: |

|My SPECIALITY SKILLS include: | |

| | |

|In TEN YEARS TIME I would like to be: |Currently I am: (describe your current position). |

| | |

|TO GET THERE I NEED TO: | |

| | |

1. Examining Life Values

Purpose

This exercise helps you to examine your perceptions about what is important to you as an individual. There are no right or wrong answers.

Instructions

Round 1: Rank in order 1 to 15.

Round 2: Review and eliminate five and rank again if necessary.

Round 3: Review and eliminate five and rank again if necessary.

|Value |Description |1 |2 |3 |

|Friendship |To work with people I like and to be liked by them | | | |

|Location |To be able to live where I want to live | | | |

|Loyalty |To be loyal to my employer and to my boss and to know I have their loyalty | | | |

| |in return | | | |

|Family |To have time to spend with my family | | | |

|Leadership |To become an influential leader | | | |

|Achievement |To accomplish important things; to be involved in significant undertakings | | | |

|Self-realisation |To do work that is personally challenging and that will allow me to realise| | | |

| |the full potential of my best talents | | | |

|Wealth |To earn a great deal of money | | | |

|Expertness |To become a known and respected authority in | | | |

| |what I do | | | |

|Service |To contribute to the satisfaction of others | | | |

|Prestige |To be seen as successful; to become well known | | | |

|Security |To have a secure and stable position | | | |

|Power |To have the authority to approve or disapprove proposed courses of action, | | | |

| |to make assignments and to control allocation of resources | | | |

|Enjoyment |To enjoy my work | | | |

|Independence |To have freedom of thought and action; to be able to act in terms of my own| | | |

| |schedule and priorities | | | |

In Round 3 you identified the five life values that are most important to you at the moment. Your priorities are the aspects of life that are important to you and so they will affect your career choices and satisfaction. But bear in mind you might find some of your values change over time.

The five life values that are most important to me are:

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

3. My Ideal Life

Purpose

This exercise is another way of thinking about your values and preferences. Please consider this next exercise over the long term. Exercise 2 leads you through a deductive process to identify your values. This exercise is a more holistic and imaginative way of seeking similar information. (These exercises are included to encourage you to stretch your thinking. You might decide to use only one of these exercises.)

1. Design your ideal life. Write down your five most important life values.

Job/career: What sort of work do you think would be your ideal work? What sort of skills would you be using? What would be the level of responsibility? Would you be earning plenty of money or enough to be comfortable? Would it involve a lot of interaction with a number of people or would you work more on your own? Would it be a high-risk job or would it feel safe and secure? Would it be in the private or the public sector?

If you have a name for this job, write it down.

If you have no name for the job you are imagining, visualise the job and write down what you see.

2. Think about your life outside work. Do you see yourself surrounded by lots of family or spending lots of time alone or with a friend? Where would you live and how would you spend your time?

3. Will you be the sort of person who is active in the community? What sort of community activity would be important in your life? Does this involve steady commitment or advancement? Write down a description of what you imagine yourself doing.

4. What about yourself as an individual? What sort of exploration do you want to do (for example, spiritual wellbeing, learning or painting)? Are there any physical/health goals that are important to you?

5. Think about the above and make a list of the values that emerge as most important to you. Compare these with the ones you identified in the previous exercise (or write them down on your career planner if this is the only values exercise you are going to do).

4 Career/life planning timeline

Purpose

People move through various stages in their lives and careers. The demands of one will impact on the other. This exercise will help you consider your probable life stages and the impact they are likely to have on your career.

20 30 40 50 60 70 80 years

On the line above, mark your age and the current year. You might also mark in significant events/phases of your life (actual, anticipated and/or hopeful). Now answer the questions below that you find relevant.

1. In ………. (for example, 40) years time I will be ……… years old. By that time I would like my life to be:

And I would like to achieve:

2. In ……… (for example, 20) years time I will be …….. years old. To be halfway towards my life goals, I will need to have done the following:

3. In ………. (for example, 10) years time I will be ……… years old. I would like to achieve the following:

Career:

Lifestyle:

Community:

Personal:

Consider how this information influences your career planning and adjust as necessary.

5 Where am I Right Now?

Purpose

This exercise lets you run a quick check on how actively you are managing your career at present.

Instructions

Work through the following checklist. Be honest with yourself; you will benefit from the most accurate assessment of yourself.

|Skills |Yes |No |

|Am I using my best and most enjoyed skills in my present job? | | |

|Have I recently developed any new skills? | | |

|Have I improved some of the ones I had? | | |

|Do I know the skills I want to develop? | | |

|Am I doing something about it? | | |

|Jobs | | |

|Is the job I have the job I really want? | | |

|Am I working towards what I really want? | | |

|Do I know all I need to know about the work I want? | | |

|Am I doing something about it? | | |

|Goals | | |

|Do I have career goals for the next three years? | | |

|Have I recently revised my life goals? | | |

|Am I consciously working towards them? | | |

|Have I recently reached any of my goals? | | |

|Do I set goals on a day-to-day basis? | | |

|Am I constantly evaluating progress and rewarding myself for the results? | | |

|Do I use a ‘to do’ list every day? | | |

|Needs and values | | |

|Have I recently looked at my needs and values? | | |

|Am I working towards satisfying as many of these as possible? | | |

|Do some of them need clarification? | | |

|Problem solving | | |

|Do I use creative problem solving to find solutions to my problems? | | |

|Do I accept responsibility for my own life? | | |

|Am I in control of my life? | | |

|Do I believe and constantly remind myself that I cannot always choose what happens to me, but I can choose the | | |

|attitude I adopt to it? | | |

|Communication | | |

|Am I working towards improving my communication skills? | | |

|Am I a good listener? | | |

|Do I strive to be assertive, rather than submissive or aggressive? | | |

|Are my relationships with others improving all the time? | | |

Spend a few minutes reflecting on your answers to these questions. You might like to make a note of any areas you feel need attention.

6 Motivated Abilities Pattern

Purpose

This exercise helps you work out the factors that are associated with your past achievements. It will provide you with a guide to the kinds of things that motivate you. Understanding your natural talents is very important to choosing work you find satisfying and enjoyable. One way of finding out more about yourself is to examine your past achievements and identify recurrent themes. Motivational patterns are established early in a person’s life and remain fairly constant. For this reason they can be used as reliable predictors of situations that will suit a certain individual.

There are five elements or characteristics that, when present, are likely to result in satisfying and meaningful work for an individual. They are:

0. Abilities the individual is motivated to use (for example, analyse, organise, persuade)

0. Specific subject matter that brings out the best in the individual

0. Certain circumstances or conditions under which the individual is motivated to work (for example, stress, structure, novelty, difficulty)

0. A certain relationship the individual strives to establish with others (for example, ‘spark plug’, ‘loner’, ‘team member’, ‘facilitator’)

0. The result the individual is looking to accomplish (for example, serve others, build things, control things, solve problems).

Motivational patterns are specific to individuals and tend to remain fairly constant over time. They are different from skills, which demonstrate a person’s breadth of experience and capabilities. These motivational preferences are often held so strongly people will try to shape their work to match their motivators.

It might be useful to consider some examples:

|Motivational pattern |

|Abilities |Subjects |Circumstances |Relationships |Results |Possible job match |

|Researching, analysing, |Science; the environment|Variety; difficult |Team worker; independent|Solving problems; |Environmental scientist |

|problem solving | |challenges |leader |socially useful work | |

Exploring your motivational pattern

Instructions

Step 1

To identify your motivational pattern you should think about your past achievements - things you enjoyed doing and you felt you did well. List five of your achievements in the column provided. They can be achievements from childhood onwards and can include achievements at work and outside of work.

Step 2

The next step is to uncover the aspects of the achievements that led to your sense of satisfaction and success. These factors can be grouped under the five elements or characteristics outlined in the Exploring your motivational pattern chart. Look at each of the achievements you listed and write down the abilities you used, the subject matter involved and so on in the appropriate columns.

Step 3

The final step is to identify any patterns that emerge. Look at your results and note any common features in the bottom row. Are there circumstances in which you have regularly excelled? Are there topics you find stimulating? Do you do your best work as part of a team, on your own, or in a partnership?

You have now identified your motivational pattern. You are most likely to enjoy - and do well - those jobs that incorporate your motivators.

|Achievement |Abilities you used (for |Specific subject matter |Circumstances/conditions|Relationships you |Results you achieved |

| |example, analyse, |(for example, sport, |(for example, |established with others |(for example, service to|

| |organise, persuade) |botany, money, animals) |difficulty, novelty, |(for example, ‘loner’, |others, control of |

| | | |stress, structure) |‘team member’, ‘spark |things, discovered new |

| | | | |plug’, ‘facilitator’) |knowledge) |

| | | | | | |

| | | | | | |

| | | | | | |

| | | | | | |

| | | | | | |

|Common features or | | | | | |

|motivational pattern | | | | | |

7 Career questions

The chart below gives a structure for asking yourself important questions that will benefit your career planning process. You can ask a friend, work colleague or your manager to assist you in working through these questions or you can take some reflection time and write down your thoughts and responses as you work through each question.

|Understanding my needs |Understanding what my organisation offers |

|What are my values? |What are the growth opportunities in my organisation? |

|What is my life purpose? |What benefits does my employer offer? |

|What are my interests? |What would improve the likelihood of my staying with my present employer? |

|What motivates me? |What can my employer offer me to assist me to be more effective? |

|What de-motivates me? | |

|What do I need to keep my life in balance? | |

|Understanding what I have to offer |Understanding my organisation’s needs |

|What are my strengths? |What are the goals and mission of my organisation? |

|How can my strengths benefit my employer? |What knowledge and skill sets do I need to help my employer and effectively |

|What are my accomplishments and experiences? |perform my job? |

|What is my competitive advantage? | |

|What attributes differentiate me from others with a similar background? | |

|What are the unique services I can make available to my employer at this | |

|stage in my career? | |

| | |

8 My Strongest Personal Qualities, Knowledge and Skills

Increasingly, employers today look for a combination of personal qualities, knowledge and skills that they have identified as important for each job. Understanding what you have to offer will make it easier to find the right job for you.

For each of the following list your strongest personal qualities, knowledge or skills. These are the things that best describe you or that you do best. It can be helpful to ask a couple of friends or peers to do the same and then to compare and discuss any differences to help you finalise the list. You might also like to jot down examples of when you have demonstrated each quality.

Click here for more information about commonly sought qualities, knowledge and skills (link to e-recruitment info). You can also register a personal profile that many government employers will scan when they have a job to fill.

My personal qualities include:

Personal Quality Evidence (examples of occasions when I have demonstrated this skill)

Example Initiative – asked my boss if I could change the office mail processes. These changes resulted in much faster and more reliable mail distribution and lots of positive feedback from managers and staff.

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

My knowledge and skills include:

Skill Evidence (examples of occasions when I have demonstrated this skill)

Example: Written Communications – I have demonstrated these skills when I was a customer services officer and frequently had to prepare written letters, reports and emails. It was essential that these were clear, accurate and responsive to the customers’ queries and concerns.

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

My specialist/technical expertise include:

Skill Evidence (examples of occasions when I have demonstrated this skill)

Example Records Management – 4 years experience in large records management facilities with particular skills in cataloguing and retrieval systems. Developed an innovative new way to manage retrieval that saved the company $20,000 per year.

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

9 What are my job requirements?

Purpose

There will be some requirements of a job you consider essential and others you consider desirable (those you can be more flexible about). This exercise will help you to establish the conditions you are looking for in a job.

Instructions

Start by completing the table. Work from other exercises in this section might help you understand your needs.

|Requirement |My essential requirements |My preferred situation |

|Geographical | | |

|Specific location limitations | | |

|Mobility (willingness to move around) | | |

|Salary/income | | |

|Dollar range | | |

|Regular or based on commission? | | |

|Other benefits | | |

|Car | | |

|Telephone | | |

|Superannuation | | |

|Performance-based increases | | |

|Car parking | | |

|Accommodation | | |

|Study leave | | |

|Personal computer | | |

|Working hours | | |

|Particular start/finish requirements | | |

|Flexible working hours | | |

|Full-time/part-time work/ casual work | | |

|Time in lieu provisions | | |

|Work conditions | | |

|Office/outdoors | | |

|Special needs | | |

|Regular travel | | |

|Security of tenure | | |

|Other requirements: | | |

10. My Short and Long Term Goals

Often you will find yourself daydreaming about your ambitions and the steps you need to take to achieve these dreams. A simple way to ensure your daydreams are achievable is to break them down into goals. To achieve your goals, you first need to establish your short and long term goals. Once you have established your short and long term goals, you will be able to establish the steps you need to take to follow the goals to completion.

You will not be able to define every step to complete your goals right away. You might need to review this a couple of times to finalise the steps. Although, once you have finalised the steps, following them to completion will enable you to reach your goals logically and practically.

|Short term action items |

|Activity |What will I do? |By when? |

|1 | | |

|2 | | |

|3 | | |

|Long term action items |

|Activity |What will I do? |By when? |

|1 | | |

|2 | | |

|3 | | |

11. Examining the Barriers using Force Field Analysis

Purpose

This exercise will help you to understand and deal with those factors that support your career plans and those that might hinder them. There is likely to be a range of factors that will affect your willingness and ability to pursue the career of your choice. It is valuable to understand your situation. There are factors that will help you (‘helpers’) and factors that will present barriers (‘inhibitors’). Some examples are given in the table below.

What are the helpers and the inhibitors that affect your career? Circle any relevant ones from the table below and then add some of your own.

|Helpers |Inhibitors |

|I have a helpful mentor who offers useful advice. |I have financial fears. |

|I have a manager who is interested in helping staff to develop to their |I’m waiting for the children to grow up and become independent. |

|full potential. |I’m more aware of my strengths than my weaknesses. |

|I am in a large organisation that supports further training and |I’m unwilling to move geographically. |

|development. |I have limited awareness of alternative occupations. |

|I have lost my job so I have nothing to lose. |I am concerned about my age. |

|I’m on a 12-month contract so I am able to try a new position soon. |I want instant success. |

|I’m in a challenging job where I have plenty of scope to demonstrate new |There is a time and financial cost of further training and education. |

|skills. |I am reluctant to take risks. |

|I have access to short term work placements/exchanges to broaden my skills.|I am nearly eligible for long service leave (or other benefit). |

|I have a wide network of colleagues. |It’s not the right time right now. |

|I belong to one or more professional associations. |I have/don’t have skills that are widely in demand. |

|I have access to experts in career planning. |My knowledge and experience is limited to a narrow sector/industry. |

|I’m free to move around to take advantage of job opportunities. |I am limited by lack of qualifications. |

| |My partner expects me to continue my present career. |

| |I find it hard to make decisions. |

Which inhibitors are of primary importance (identify about three):

•

•

•

How would you classify these using the following descriptors?

Concrete (Too hard, can’t go through.)

Glass (Can’t get around, can’t get through, but if you hit the right spot it will shatter.)

Rubber (Looks impermeable, but it will bend.)

Mirage (From a distance it looks solid until you walk right up to it. If you challenge it, you’ll find it is an illusion.)

How will I check these perceptions?

What specific activities do I have to undertake to remove these primary inhibitors?

Inhibitor

Goal

|Steps to remove inhibitor |When will I start? |When will I finish? |Who/what can help? |Comments |

| | | | | |

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